Conventional technology teaches that nano aluminum (Al) particles passivated by a perfluorinated carboxylic acid coating exhibit enhanced burning compared to nanoparticles with an aluminum oxide coating. The typical aluminum oxide coating on an aluminum particle of any size is 1.7-6.0 nm thick. For nano aluminum particles, this accounts for approximately 45% of the total mass, leading to a significant inhibition of the burning rate because almost half of the material is non-reactive. By passivating the aluminum surface with a carboxylic acid, the bulk of the aluminum nanoparticle is available for oxidation chemistry. Additionally, the use of a perfluorinated carboxylic acid incorporates a very powerful oxidizer within an intimate setting with the metal fuel. The oxidation of aluminum (Al) to AlF3 (13.31 kcal/g) is far more energetic than the oxidation to Al2O3 (7.4 kcal/g). This combination of a strong oxidizer in close proximity and an abundant highly available fuel allow for the enhanced burning rate reported by Jillian M. Horn et. al. Formulations with the inventive technology used micron sized aluminum instead of nano because the larger particles offer longer burn times and the oxide layer becomes a very small percentage of the overall particle, such that it does not impede combustion.
Additional conventional technology teaches electrophilic aromatic iodination is effected using fuming sulfuric acid, powdered iodine, and heat. Various benzene derivatives have been polyiodinated and used as contrast agents during X-ray radiographies. These compounds are substituted by 4 or 5 iodine atoms. One of the compounds is tetraiodoterephthalic acid and its amide derivative, thus inspiring a synthesis for the inventive technology.
Further conventional technology teaches processes for the conversion of carboxylic acids to their analogous acid chlorides using thionyl chloride.
Further conventional technology teaches processes for the polymerization of polyamides from acid chlorides and amines.
Typically, in conventional technologies the iodine pentoxide is not particularly stable upon exposure to moisture and decomposes into iodic acid. The acid then reacts and causes the binder to decompose in current formulations. This result is not desirable, and the inventors' technology resolves these deficiencies and provides something more stable. The inventive material contains organic iodine attached along the aromatic carbon backbone of the polymer, which, with sufficient flexibility, also may function as a binder. Therefore, the inventive technology is a replacement of both the binder and iodine pentoxide in biological agent defeat formulations.